Government attorneys and an Amarillo bank have struck a deal in the forfeiture case of a southwest Amarillo home once owned by convicted mail scammer Tommy Lee Buckley.

FirstBank Southwest agreed this month to pay the federal government $194,446.84 to drop its forfeiture claim on a residence at 4801 Aberdeen Parkway, according to court records.

In September, the government filed a forfeiture complaint against Buckley’s house, a 2003 BMW and a 2006 Pontiac GT sedan, “alleging that the property should be forfeited since it was derived from fraud proceeds,” court records show.

The bank filed a claim to the home in October, records show.

An Amarillo jury in June convicted Buckley, 64, on 24 counts of mail fraud in a scam that bilked about 1,800 people out of $2.8 million.

Buckley, who pleaded not guilty, failed to appear at a scheduled forfeiture hearing the next morning, when he shot himself to death at his home, police said.

Buckley told his investors he had “certificates of obligation” for trillions of dollars made out to former and current world leaders, according to court documents and testimony.

As part of the scheme, Buckley told investors they could share in the proceeds if they subscribed to his TreasuryGate newsletter, court records show.

Phyllis Buckley, the defendant’s wife, forfeited any interest she may have had in the property after she did not file a claim in response to the forfeiture complaint, records show.

FirstBank Southwest made a loan to Buckley and his wife for the house in 2005, court records said.

Prior to the government’s forfeiture complaint, the loan went into default and a state district judge authorized the bank to proceed with the foreclosure, the claim said.

The March 14 motion said nobody filed claims for the cars after 60 days on the government site www.forfeiture.gov last year.

“Therefore, any and all others’ interest in the two vehicles and the $194,446.84 received from (the bank) should be extinguished,” the motion said.

The current appraised value of the home is $538,182, according to Potter-Randall Appraisal District records.